Are We There Yet

Destination: Washington DC/Philadelphia/Surfside Beach
Total Miles: 2,150 miles
Total Cost: approx. $700

People have called me crazy, insane, obsessed, a travel-freak, adventurous, etc.

And perhaps, if their definition of those words is "Taking three children (not yours) on a road trip for a week," then I am most definitely (in their books) and correctly labeled as crazy.

In my book, I am your typical 26 year-old, single RN, who has 3 siblings ages 11, 9, and 7, who loves to take them to places they might not otherwise see. (not that you nor I know of anyone else who is a single, 26-year-old, with young siblings). But I am normal. Most of the time.

This post is mainly to wrap up the remainder of my trip with the LPs (and Christy, who is NOT an LP but still one of the 4 youngest members of our family).

So...to tie up any loose ends...let me see...

Friday, August 3rd, 2012:

We had approximately 1.6 days to drive down to Surfside Beach (south of North Myrtle Beach?). The plan was to visit either Jamestown or Yorktown, and at some point, visit my friends, Laurie, Matt, and baby Nate.

Being the flexible person I am, I opted to leave Friday closer to lunch time (negating the opportunity to go to Jamestown or Yorktown). This gave everyone (aka Christy and Chenie) the chance to sleep in. Which was going to be needed more than even I planned.

But I digress.

We drove down the Eastern Shore of Maryland, stopping in the middle of the Bay Bridge Tunnel to get pictures and get everyone out of the car for a few minutes.

Supper was a most excellent affair! We met at Laurie and Matt's, then drove over to a family-friendly pizzeria. The pizza was amazing, and the cannoli was even better!

I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them, and the kids loved Nate! After completely wearing everyone out, we headed to a gas station and hit the road.

Laurie and Matt had offered for us to stay with them, but since there were 5 of us, I decided against it.

Mistake Number One.

Thinking it would be easy as pie to stop along I-95 for a hotel...well, that was Mistake Number Two.

Five stops later, and literally everything was booked out for the night. The one place I found had only one room left-a smoking, king-sized bed only, room was all they could offer. And the little elderly lady who had arrived before me but had left her ID in the car with her husband...well...they looked like they could use the room better than all of us. And, she was kind enough to inform me that they had been to every hotel between a certain number of exits and had been unable to find a hotel room.

Enter McDonald's Large Coke.

I was set to go for several more hours, and at that point decided to just drive until I absolutely could not drive any more. Which mom and dad found out about, and began their quest to find us place. I am not even sure how many places mom called before finding a room about 20 minutes from where I was.

We came very close to having to drive through a town labeled as "Tar Heel" (I kid you not! I was so scared for Mr. Darcy, who was proudly displaying his Duke license plate, Duke Girl bumper sticker, and Duke Basketball license plate holder). Thankfully, we bypassed that town!

The short of the rest of the trip was that we got to the hotel at 2:50 am. Everyone fell asleep rather quickly, and we were able to journey on the next morning.
The beach was relaxing, enjoyable, and of course, we all received varying degrees of sunburn. 

So, my tips when traveling with kids (particularly long distance):
1. Get a hotel room in advance, especially Friday nights.
2. Brace yourself for the "Are we there yet?" question.
3. Come up with clever answers to aforementioned question:
     -"Does it look like we have stopped?"
     -"Did you count to a million yet?"
     -"In your own opinion and in 10 words or less, tell me what you think."
4. Never refuse offers of free rooms. Ever.
5. Do NOT be stressed. They can sense it and will feed off it.
6. Have plenty (and I mean PLENTY) of options of things they can do with the travel time.
     -videos
     -fun music
     -quiet time
     -books
     -memorization stuff
     -games
     -something new (music/DVD, etc)
     -brochures about places your going or have been
7. Make sure they have good shoes. Kids with blisters=occasional episode of whining.

This was one of the most amazing things I have done. Period.

Do I regret the money spent, the things not seen, the millions of questions, the tired feet, the tired Charise?

No way. And I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Pita.

Packing 101

This is really a Travel Tip in disguise. Do not be fooled by it's status as a New Post!

Several of my friends have questioned me on my method of packing for trips. Be they short or long trips, I put off the bulk of packing to the last minute (sometimes literally). My motto could be: why do today what could be put off until tomorrow.

I have found that the more I travel, the more...efficient...my packing has become. What used to take me a couple hours, now, on average, takes less 30 minutes. No joke.

For those readers who do not know me extremely well, allow me to shed some light into my brain. As long as I can remember, I have LOVED making outlines. Long, short, three points, scores of points, sentence, one-word, etc...the more complex, the more I relished the process. Came in very handy in my English classes!

So, Tip One: make an outline.

It doesn't have to be super creative. In fact, it can be as simple as:
1. Clothes-jeans, t-shirts, pajamas, church
2. Shoes-brown, black
3. Bathroom-make-up, hair-stuff, towels
4. Other-pillow, blanket, book, iPod, chargers

That took all of 1 minute to make. Mine are a little more extravagant (using Roman numerals, details regarding specific items, and quantities), but you get the gist. I normally make it sometime the week before I leave. This gives me time to think it over, add or detract from the list, and consider where everything is located. Now, I carry my iPhone which doubles as notebook and can adjust my outlines whenever I want. Ideally, you should utilize spare minutes (Biblical principles at work: "redeeming the time.")

The outlines serve a dual purpose on my longer trips. I have a tendency of misplacing things and also forgetting what I have brought. At the end of my trip, when I am rushing around trying to discover if I've left anything important, I am able to pull out my outline and double-check items. (I tend not to do this on shorter trips, which results in an increased likelihood of items getting left behind.)

Tip Two: NEVER forget these items

1. Toothbrush (I keep an extra in my make-up bag just in case I forget)
2. Hairbrush (usually obvious, but still an item that ends up getting left)
3. Wallet---with ID (especially if you're traveling by plane, have your ID handy)
4. Underwear (pack extra)
5. Pillow (if you're picky about your pillow, just take yours. I am, and almost never travel without it)

I'm sure you can think of more. Make sure they get on your list.

Tip Three: watch for items that get over-packed.

(this is for the benefit of a couple of my siblings...)
1. Shoes (you really don't have to have a pair per outfit! just make sure you have a church pair if you're visiting church)
2. Shirts (clothes in general is a murky area...girls tend to overpack because we can't decide what outfit we think we're going to want...whatever you do, don't pack your entire wardrobe)
3. Towels (most places you visit will have these available. so check it out beforehand to save space)

Here again, I'm sure there are more. Find your weakness and then work on it!

Tip Four: pack things in the same place every time

For those of you who, like me, travel a little more often, every time you pack your bags, put items in the same place. Example: all my shoes go in pockets, all my shirts go in the same pile and are stacked in the same corner, my curlers/hairdryer/hairbrush go at the bottom of the suitcase...you get the idea. This will help you in making sure you have the basics.

I'm a procrastinator. And I have adapted my packing habits to suit my procrastination. Perhaps you are one of those odd people who packs a week in advance, then unpacks, repacks, double-checks, adds to, etc...I used to wish I was like that. Tried it once. My room looked like it had upchucked...and I drove myself (and Charity) crazy...for a week.

Then I realized that I am me. No one else. And the outlining works wonders for me. Give it a try! Perhaps, even if you are an unhinged-I mean, organized and proactive-person who packs over a week in advance, you will find that having at least a general list will cut back on packing time.

Don't get stressed. Packing can be fun, if you let it be. So...hurry up and get packing! Traveling is worth it!

Charles, trying to stow away to Boston